BC Grad Students Head to Albany for Internship with Assembly

Brooklyn, NY—David Aglialoro and Claude Celestine, both students in the master’s program in political science, have won scholarships to intern in the New York State Assembly for the spring semester. Only 10 graduate students were chosen statewide for the program.

Aglialoro, who completed his bachelor’s degree in political science at Brooklyn College in 2008, interned with Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan during the fall 2009 semester. He says he’s not certain what exactly he wants his career to be, but considering his family history—his grandfather ran for the Assembly and for mayor in the 1960s—public service seems certain.

“I guess I was raised in that type of mode to always give back to the public,” he says. “So working in public policy just seems right to me.”

Celestine earned his undergraduate degree at Medgar Evars College and worked in the assembly as an undergraduate intern with Assemblyman Karim Camara.
“Nobody from Medgar Evars had received the undergraduate internship in something like 45 years, so it made me proud to get it,” he says.

The interns receive a stipend of $11,500 and work in research and policy analysis positions for assembly members or on committee staffs. Roughly one-third of the internship participants go on to careers in the assembly or in other state government positions.